Marking machine



May 17, 1932;

G. LA F. KEENE MARKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 14, 1929 3 66 20 INVENTOR Patented May 17, 1932 UNITEE? STATE PATENT OFFEOE GUY LA FORREST KEENE, F BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY MARKING MACHINE Application filed February 14, 1929. Serial No. 339,852.

This invention relates to marking machines and particularly to type carrying heads of such machines.

Although it will be understood that marking machines of the type under consideration are employed for a variety of purposes in which it is desired to imprint a series of char acters upon a number of pieces of material, the particular improvement which forms the subject-matter of this application relates to the utilization of marking machines in the shoe trade where two or three lines of characters are printed simultaneously upon shoe linings. Although such characters are usually imprinted on the exposed inner surface of the lining, a window is sometimes provided by cutting a hole in the lining and the characters are then imprinted upon the doubler or inner lining which is directly back of this window. To make such an arrangement serviceable, it is customary to attach the edges of this window to the inner lining by a line of stitching extending around the opening close to the edge thereof. While such an arrangement is attractive and is of some advantage in delaying the obliteration of the characters during the use of the shoe, it is also a rather expensive operation and cannot be employed for the cheaper grades of shoes. It has been suggested that an enclosing line or panel may be imprinted around the type characters to simulate theedge of a window opening and at the same time a row of dots printed closely adjacent to this line to simu- 5 late the stitches surrounding the window such as is described above. The problem of providing a die upon the type head of a marking machine so as to imprint such a panel and the usual characters simultaneously is accentuated in those machines where type carrying plates for supporting extra lines of type are employed in connection with the marking wheels usually found in such machines because of the very limited space between such a type carrying plate and the plane of the printing faces of the various characters.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to devise an improved type head having a panel die surrounding the type usually provided on the head by means of which an imitation window may be printed simultaneously with the imprints of the desired characters.

In the illustrated construction and in accordance with features of the invention, the type head has a panel die resting firmly upon the type carrying plate and the shoulders of type therein, and the panel die is provided with substantially concealed snap fasteners so that it may be readily attached to, or detached from, the type head without the use of tools.

These and other features of the invention will now be set forth in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the under side of a type head having a type carrying plate and panel die secured thereto;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the type head shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective with parts broken away showing the means for attaching the panel die to the type carrying plate;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the under sidedof the panel die detached from the type nea V Fig. 5 shows a portion of a shoe upper which has been imprinted by means of such a type head and panel die, and

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail, on an enlarged scale, throughone of the attaching fasteners.

It is desired to provide means for imprinting upon a piece of work such as a shoe part 2 three rows of characters 32 which may have any desired arrangement such as that shown in Fig. 5 and at the same time to imprint upon the work a panel line 4: surrounded by a dotted line 6 to simulate the stitching ordinarily employed around a window in a shoe lining. It will be understood, of course, that the panel line 4 and the dotted line 6 may be of other shapes than the diamond illustrated in the drawings, but that ordinarily they will be closed lines surrounding the various characters.

One type of marking machine with which my improved type head 10 may be employed comprises a work support (not shown) anda movable carrier (not shown) upon which a type head is mounted so that it may be moved toward and away from a piece of work supported on said work support. Such a machine is illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 960,029, granted May 31, 1910, on application of F. W. Merrick, to which reference may be made for a fuller description of a typical machine, it being understood, however, that the invention may be employed in other machines.

The type head 10 shown in the accompanying drawings has a plurality of type w ieels 12 each of which has a series of type char.- actor 14: projecting from the periphery thereof, and the head is usually provided with a series of latches 16 by means of which the various wheels are maintained in set position but may be released when it is desired to rotate the wheels to interchange a row of characters 32, at the bottom of the wheels, which is to be printed. Associated with these type disks 12 is a type carrying plate 20 resting against a flat surface upon the under side of the head 10 and detachably secured to said head by means of underlying lips 22 Fig. 1) and a pivoted latch 24. Preferably, too, such a plate is provided with a wire bail 26 which cooperates with astud 28 (Fig. 2), to hold the plate upon the head when it is released by operation of the latch 24 but in such a position thereon, away from the head, that the plate no longer interferes with the rotation of the type wheels 12. For a more complete description of such an arrangement reference may be had to United States Letters Patent No. 15332, granted July 28, 1925, upon my application.

The type carrying plate is employed to support in position adjacent to the row of characters 32 provided by the type wheels 12 a series of other types which need to be changed less frequently than the characters upon the type wheels but which it is desired to interchange occasionally. To this end the type plate may be constructed as described in United States Letters Patent No. 1,823,030, granted Sept. 15, 1931, on application of Harry A. Clarke. lVhen so constructed, the plate 20 will be provided with a central portion 30 thicker than the ends which are engaged by the latches 2% and will have an opening to receive the row of characters 32 upon the bottom of the type wheels. This thickened central portion 30 is recessed to form a series of grooves 34: (Fig. 1) for the reception of individual removable type pieces 36 having any desired faces projecting above the surrounding shoulders of the type pieces. These type pieces rest upon the plate and are detachably held in position in the type plate by corresponding spring fingers 38 formed upon thin plates 4E0 secured one to either edge of the type plate 20. This arrangement allows the series of interchangeable types 36 to be arranged in rows lying at either side of the row of characters 32 on the type wheels to permit the imprinting of three closely ad,- jacent rows of characters. At the same time the various type pieces 36 are held in the plate 20 in such a fashion that they are not displaced when the plate is being put into position or is temporarily dropped into a tilted position by operation of the latch 24 to allow rotation of the type wheels 12.

For printing the panel lines 4 and 6,1 have provided a panel die constructed of a thin metal plate which is provided with a central opening 52 surrounding which are the clownwardly projecting ribs 54 and 56 forming the printing face by means of which the lines at and 6 are imprinted upon the work. Such a plate 50 can have only a. very limited thickness because of the slight height of the type faces above the shoulders of the detachable types 36 and type wheel characters 32 and to make it most useful in the trade the panel die must be capable of application to, and

removal from, the type carrying plate as frequently as may be desired without the use of tools. Accordingly, the center of the panel die 50 is thin where it overlies the thickened central portion 30 of the type plate 20 and rests firmly upon (see Fig. 2) the shoulders of the removable type pieces 36, and the ends of the die are upturned and then extended outwardly to rest upon the thin ends of the plate 20. Means are provided at this point of contact for holding the die removably on the plate. To this end upwardly extending studs 60, one at either end of the panel die, secured in the die plate, are tapered at their inner ends 62 and have lateral grooves 6 1 for a purpose which will later appear. Holes. to receive the studs are provided in eachend I of the plate 20 and said plate has end grooves 66 containing substantially straight spring wires 68 passed through eyes 70 drilled in said'plate to traverse said holdes. As the panel die 50 is applied to the plate 20, the 717 studs deflect the spring wires 68 and receive them in the lateral grooves 64: therein to hold the die in position. In order to facilitate the removal of the panel die from the type head, the plate 20 is cut away at 72 to provide recesses for the insertion of the operators finger 1121119111 order to press down upon the end of the panel die and unsnap it from the retaining springs 68. This arrangement makes it possible to remove the panel die without the use'of tools. Furthermore, the force necessary for removal of the die is applied at such a point thatthere is little danger of bending the very thin plate out of which the panel die 50 is constructed.

In the operation of the machine, after type pieces 36 have been inserted in the slots at the opposed sides of the plate 20 to print rows of characters, which may include case.

number, lot number, or the like, then the Cal plate is applied to the type head 10 by inserting one edge of the plate above the lips 22 and snapping the bail 26 over the stud 28. Before the plate 20 is moved into upward position, the type wheels 12 will be adjusted in a Well understood manner to bring into position a row of characters 32 which, in shoe factory work, may include the size designation and possibly a number denoting the kind of leather from which the particular lot of shoes is made. The type plate is then snapped up into engagement with the head 10 where it is held by the spring-pressed lever 24, and the panel die is detachably secured to the type head by pressing the studs into the hole provided in said plate 20, where they will be held by the springs 68.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination, a type head having a plurality of type carrying disks, a type carrying plate removably mounted on said head constructed and arranged for supporting assembled removable type pieces arranged to print individual characters, and an auxiliary printing plate detachably secured to the under side of said type carrying plate constructed and arranged to print an imitation window around the characters printed by the type pieces on the type carrying plate simultaneously with the printing of the characters.

In a removable type head, a type plate facing downwardly, type pieces removably mounted thereon, an auxiliary printing plate resting on the shoulders of the type pieces in said type plate, and means for securing said auxiliary plate to said type plate constructed and arranged to permit application of the auxiliary plate to, or its removal from, the type plate without disturbing the position of the type plate upon the type head.

3. In combination, a type head, a type plate secured thereto, an auxiliary printing plate arranged to impress a panel outline around the characters printed by the type on the type plate simultaneously therewith, and means carried by the auxiliary plate for detachably securing said auxiliary plate to the exposed face of said type plate substantially concealed within said plates when assembled.

4. In a type head, a type plate, an aux iliary printing member adapted to be detachably secured to said type plate to make an impression at the same time that the impression is made by the type on the type plate, said type plate being recessed and provided with retaining springs, and studs upon said auxiliary member for insertion in said recesses thereby to lock the auxiliary member to the type plate.

5. In a type head, a type plate having thin end portions for engagement by retaining means to hold said plate in the head, a thickened central portion recessed to receive type pieces, an auxiliary printing member overlying said central portion and resting firmly upon the type pieces carried by the plate for simultaneous impression therewith, said auxiliary member having an opening to admit the type pieces on said plate and upturned ends provided with retaining devices for engagement with the thin end portions of the plate to hold the auxiliary member detachably upon the plate during the printing operation.

6. In a type head, a type plate having thin end portions for engagement by retaining means to hold said plate in the head, a thickened central portion recessed to receive type pieces, an auxiliary printing member overlying said central portion for simultaneous impression with the type pieces carried by the plate and constructed and arranged to print an imitation window surrounding the characters printed on the type pieces, said auxiliary member having an opening to admit the type on said plate and having upturned ends provided with retaining devices for engagement with the plate to hold the auxiliary member detachably upon the plate during the printing operation.

7. A type head having a series of type wheels, a type carrying plate separably connected thereto and having means for removably supporting selected individual type members in a line adjacent to a row of type on the type wheels, an auxiliary panel die surrounding the type members and the row of type on the wheels, said die and said type being adapted for simultaneous impression upon the work, and means for detachably securing said auxiliary panel die upon the type carrying plate, constructed and arranged to permit removal of said panel die in a direction substantially normal to the type carrying plate.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GUY LA FORREST KEENE.

QERTEEIGATE (PF (IGRREGTION.

Patent No. 1,858,273. May 17, 1932.

GUY LA FQRREST KEENE.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as ioiiows: Page 3, line 34, claim 2. strike out the word "removable" and insert the same before "type" second occurrence, same line; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 23rd day of May. A. D. 1933.

M. J. Moore. (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

